Should the Miami Marlins trade third baseman Martin Prado?

At 38-46 (4th in the NL East), the Miami Marlins have not been able to put up a string of wins that can give them the needed push towards the second spot in the NL Wildcard.

Being light years apart from the NL East divisional leader the Washington Nationals, the Miami Marlins must look to revamp and improve upon their roster. The ultimate goal being a final push towards the big show in October; the World Series.

During some parts of this season, the Marlins have shown the promise and talent to be a playoff contending team. At other times, they appear as a shipwreck that continues to sink. The center of their issue is with their pitching staff, especially the starting rotation.

With Marlins left-handed pitcher Wei-Yin Chen still on the disabled list and the dreadful performances of pitchers Vance Worley, Justin Nicolino, Jeff Locke, and Tom Koehler, the Marlins are forced to ride on the steady arms of Dan Straily and Jose Urena.

Currently, the Marlins rank 20th in the league in team ERA, which needs to be addressed moving into the All-Star break. In order to find viable starting pitchers, the Marlins will have to give up someone like Martin Prado. Prado is a player that has value, and can reap them in the talent they need to become a formidable playoff contender.

Marlins Need To Act FAST

Teams that need to fill a void at third base include the Boston Red Sox and the New York Yankees. For both of these teams, their current third basemen have been unproductive and inefficient.

More from Marlin Maniac

• Miami Marlins news: Another target gone
• Why didn’t the Miami Marlins sign JDM?
• Miami Marlins rejected Boston‘s trade offer
• Miami Marlins are pursuing Michael Conforto
• Miami Marlins need to spend to win

For the Red Sox, third-basemen have produced a .620 OPS, which ranks second to last before the lowly San Francisco Giants. So far they have been running a platoon of Tzu-Wei Lin and Deven Marrero at the position, which has been solid enough. The team has gone 26-14 when one of those players has started.

However, the Red Sox still want someone with more veteran experience and leadership, which is why they are looking at Prado. The Marlins would most likely ask for pitching prospects to help build up their farm system. They are in desperate need of pitchers that will be Major League ready before too long.

Third-basemen woes for the Red Sox and Yankees

The Yankees are also looking to improve at the third-base. Chase Headly is aging and his production has been in freefall. This season, he’s hitting .251 with four home runs and 36 RBI’s. His middling production is enough to prevent demotion, but not enough to hold down a job with a playoff contender.

The Yankees could look to put him at the DH position, which he has done four times this season.

Next: Miami Marlins All-Star pitcher...if you had to pick one

If the Yankees do want to trade for Prado, the Marlins will definitely look at some of their finer triple-A pitching prospects. Left-handed pitcher Justus Sheffield, and right-handed pitchers Chance Adams and James Kaprielian. In watching baseball videos and highlights of these players, the value they could add to the Marlins organization would be tremendous, especially for a below-average pitching staff and bullpen.